Market briefing---Lane (medium)
Japanese market--Ron (slow)
>> welcome back. i have breaking news about philip morris which has been found not liable for the lung cancer of a los angeles smoker, according to a jury. this is the first victory for philip morris in that city. the company lost jury verdicts of $3 billion and $28 billion in the past two years there. both were later reduced and are still on appeal. look at the stock right now. altria, the parent of philip morris. during the day as you can see here, it was up a penny. perhaps we can check in in extended hours and see if there is reaction. there is. up $1.50 almost at $41.50. that is better by 3 3/4 percent for altria group, the company formerly known as philip morris. worldcom has been dealt another setback as it seeks to emerge from the largest bankruptcy in u.s. history. the company was sus ppbded from competing for new government contracts which generate $1 billion in revenue annually. the general services administration said worldcom lacks the necessary internal controls and business ethics to carry government calls and data traffic. the company has 30 days to challenge this decision. worldcom’s competitors such as s.b.c. communications and at&t have stepped up pressure to have worldcom banned from government business. worldcom c.e.o. michael copel las says today’s news will not affect the timing of the company’s chapter 11 emergence. u.s. treasury secretary john snow told the senate banking committee that it is premature to judge whether china’s currency, the yuan is being undervalued.
>> if in fact the yuan is being held at a lower―considerably lower than market value it’s not in their long-term interests, and we want to have that dialogue with them.
>> u.s. manufacturing lobbyists say china’s policy of fixing the yuan’s exchange rate against the dollar is unfairly making chinese goods cheaper for foreigners. snow has received indications from china that it may widen the yuan’s trading ban against the dollar. the treasury department is reviewing the issue of currency manipulation and will release its findings, coming up on october 15th. strong u.s. economic data may fuel investor optimism in japan this morning. ron madison in the tokyo bureau joins us with a preview of friday’s trading day there.
>> lane, that’s absolutely right. japanese stocks may rise led by exporters on those better-than-expected g.d.p. and jobless claims numbers. it’s really the kind of data japan has been waiting for to boost confidence a recovery in their biggest trading partner might have some sticking power now. we are likely to see exporters rally on optimism if the u.s. is recovering it will be in a better position to buy more japanese goods. let’s see what kind of indications futures are giving us about this. we see that the nikkei did close higher in chicago. compare it with both osaka and singapore, much higher than yesterday’s nikkei close is an indication that traders do expect stocks to open higher when trading begins here in tokyo. this is what we are seeing with some of the bigger exporters. trade in u.s., canon’s a.d.r.’s up more than 100 yen, sony’s jumping more than 5600 yen, honda up 14 yen. as you know it’s been a busy week with all the earnings. we are done with all of that now. now that the dust has settled a bit investors will start making a little more sense out of this very mixed results we got. today we might see makers of digital cameras and flat panel televisions increase. yesterday canon reported increasing third quarter profit in the three months ended june 30th surged 35% to $56.2 billion yen, $468 million u.s. dollars. recent gains among technology stocks have been supported solely on hopes for earnings recovery. this analyst says companies such as canon generating steady profits are the ones that are going to attract investor interest. meanwhile n.e.c. which is japan’s biggest maker of of personal computers reporting first quarter profit below some analysts’ estimates.
